Grand Opening Scheduled

I finally scheduled a Grand Opening. It will be on Saturday December 1st at 12 noon, SL time, which is Pacific Time, and will last for 2 hours. So it will be 12-2 west coast, 3-5 east coast, and 8-11 UK time. I tried to find a time that will reach these groups the best.

In preparation for this, I have listed it in the Events calendar for Saturday. The events listings still seems to be the highest traffic producer for me. I created a sign above the store announcing the opening, mainly just for clarity when people arrive. I’m not in a high traffic, fly-in or walk-in area. I kept it pretty low key.

I also created a notecard with the landmark that I will give to friends to distribute to people, as well as for me to distribute.

I had a few ideas of what to do for the opening, including a benefit, a live streaming music show, but decided these events are large and hard to handle in the time I have. It would be a project unto itself. So I decided to just throw a party. I’ll make it festive, have music on the property, and dancing.

So, the way I decided to handle the dancing was to use a dancefloor I had previously created. At first I was going to have it hovering above the store, and have teleporter access. But in the end, I decided to just move a wall section out of the way, and put the dancefloor at the same level as the store floor. This turned out very nicely, and I think I will keep it as a permanent feature. If my store is seen as a destination for beauty (my adjoining property) or for fun, then I hope people will return, and that they will bring their friends. Here’s a view of the dancefloor from the landing point in the store:

I’ve installed a dance ball above it, and have placed slow dance poseballs around the dancefloor. That’s my house in the background. Here’s another view of the store and dancefloor:

I’ve realized that I’m selling a niche product line, and that alot of my sales will depend on word of mouth and friends of friends referrals. I’m actually pleased with the amount of traffic I’ve generated, but sales are low. I’ll be reconsidering my product line.

During the Grand Opening, I will rotate freebies, and will have large price reductions to encourage purchases. I’m also thinking about lowering my prices. Even though merchant friends have told me my pricing is where is should be, I think I will sell alot more if I lower them. It would probably spur the undecided buyer to make that purchase if they don’t think it’s a lot of money. I’d rather go for more volume than just the high-end intermittent purchasers.

I am mentioning the Gallery for the opening information, and will have similar specials there, but I anticipate a separate Gallery opening which will be targeted at a different market. It will take some time to develop the contacts I will need for that. I have also constructed my own frames now which I think will be an improvement. I have a dark and a gold version, so I think I will display each image side by side in both frames, giving the purchaser the available options. Currently I have a group of select images on the back wall in the black frame variation. So I will be re-framing all the images, and re-hanging in the gallery. That will be done after the class is done, and that will also be when I will work on the Gallery opening. For now, the store project has proven big enough to occupy my efforts.

I also intend to narrow down the rental spaces I have from 4 to probably 2. I will experiment with placing vendors instead of the slideshow exhibit I have now. This also will wait until after the class is done, being yet another major project.

Added Attraction

I am always looking for new ways to increase traffic flow to my store. I had seeen the SLX terminals around and had created an account with them, but hadn’t been using the site much. I have since discovered that it is a great place to shop, with a categorical and a word search feature. What I like best is that I can create a favorites list here. It saves me from having to remember where I saw a product I wanted. When I’m ready, I just order it, and it is delivered in-world to me.

I investigated the website and realized I could list my property for sale there. It was a very smooth and simple process, and well, I sold the property. I looked deeper into what services were offered by this company and realized I could potentially have a terminal at my store. If you met the basic qualifications, and they approve it you can have a terminal. My thoughts on this are that people who use the SLX terminals are more advanced shoppers with money to spend. When they do a search for terminals, my store would come up as one of the locations. It sounds like free advertising for me. So I applied, and got accepted. Here is the terminal placed in my store:

I think it makes me appear as a more sophisticated merchant to have an exchange terminal in my store. If nothing else, it will be convenient for me to manage my funds for shopping on SLX.

You can also see in the picture that I have a shelf with landmark givers to some of my friends stores. They are reciprocating. We are hoping to share a good customer base. If someone likes one of our stores, hopefully they will follow our recommendations to go to our friend’s stores.

Store Changes

I have reconsidered what I am going to offer at the store. I noticed that not only was I not selling any Gazebos, but the traffic numbers were very low. I did notice some names that matched people who visited the store, but I would have maybe 45 people at the store, but only 3 at the Gazebo lot, and no sales. So I cleared away the Gazebos, and sold the land. I will keep the focus on the indoor products for now. Just an aside, the Gallery had been pulling in slightly larger numbers initially, but since I’ve done the event listings, they are higher in number and almost equal. I will plan a Grand Opening next, probably for the day after Thanksgiving, and then again on Saturday for the Europeans. I will try to coordinate my Gallery Grand Opening with a mixed artist gallery I know of, or alternately try to work out a “Gallery Walk” with other artists.

Gallery Build Revision

During a class tour of my Gallery, the Professor pointed out that the big sign in the middle of the Gallery dominated the space, and disrupted the ambiance. I so agree. I wanted to review how it got that way as an example of how we have to constantly review what we are doing in business, and that we need to listen to customers and friends about our spaces, products and practices. Here’s how the Gallery looked when the comment was made:

When I built the Gallery, I place the sign I had made in a previous iteration in the center of the room. But it appeared too low, and I knew it would be visually blocked by the displays. So I raised it up high. Problem solved. But then after filling in the space with the displays, I noticed you couldn’t see the sign because it was too high. And it’s a pet peeve of mine to be in a store and not know the name of it. So I placed a couple of Waves Gallery signs on the walls high enough to see above the displays, but still in view without having to look up. It was the overall best solution, but I never reevaluated the utility of the original sign. I don’t need it. I will take it out, and for now move displays around in the space to balance. I will also have more space to add another display or two as my inventory grows.

I’ve removed the sign and moved some displays around. It looks much better. I will probably tweak the layout of the displays a bit, but I like the clear visual field now, and the overall flow. This is what it looks like now:

I think I will make the Wall signs larger now and I will be done with that part.

Getting It Right With SL

Second Life has gotten alot of press for its ground-breaking virtual world which has been touted as a everything from an online sex purveyor, to a merchants dream. While some of it is true, as usual, the truth lies somewhere in-between. Whatever the spin favorable or not, we have to admit Linden Labs has done something very right. If nothing else they have captured the imaginations of thousands of users. Considering the growth rate, there is something compelling in that virtual world.

While there are definitely passive users, people who just visit to play and recreate, there are large numbers of people who are creating items in-world and are trying to sell them. Some have been amazingly successful and have replaced their real world income with the proceeds from the virtual world. Why is this so powerful a draw? Well, to be able to create something for free, then own it is pretty great in itself, but then you can turn around and sell unlimited copies of your creation with no cost to yourself for it’s production.

While I am not an experienced gamer, or resident of other virtual worlds, my understanding is that the other places retain ownership of anything created in their world. Now my first thought about this is that I wouldn’t want to create something that I then had to give away. But in the end I probably would, just because if I could sell the item, I could use the in-world cash to buy things myself and enhance my experience in their world. But what is wrong with that picture is that there would be no incentive for cross-world production. If I create a successful T-Shirt business in SL, I can then turn around and produce them in the real world, or vice-versa. My content has value now. If I gave up ownership of the creations, it only has in-world value in that I could use or sell the item there.  Given a choice, which I have, I will produce somewhere that I can retain the ownership of what I produce.

A recent move by Linden Labs to provide their code as open source has produced quite a bit of controversy and speculation. Why give it away?  We will only know over time of course, but we can guess there was some wisdom to it. They have done too well and put too much into the development to just make a dumb move and give it all away. One utility of this that I can see is that with outside developers, the world will become alot more diverse than LL would have made it, and it can be readily customized to be useful to private enterprise. One recent competitor, VastPark, is working on the concept of people producing their own worlds, which will then interact with other worlds to form basically a world of worlds. LL may have a similar concept in mind. If enough companies adopt the code to their own uses they can then connect up with the main Grid as they wish, and can even sell or license use of their entryway into the SL Grid. Of course LL will maintain the main Grid that these companies will connect up to, and will find a way to profit from it, by charging somehow for connectivity to the main Grid.

LL may also be trying to become the new “language” of web 3.0 and everyone will somehow use or “pass through” SL do go about their daily business and pleasure. Just keeping small percentages of the profit at that stage would still probably be lucrative.

The other possibility is that they are just poising to sell. They want to create bells and whistles, and create a buzz just to attract a buyer. Perhaps a company like Google would buy them up and connect it to Google Earth. Either way, I think LL has alot to gain from allowing the open source availablity.

Integrated Marketing Masters

Ok, don’t laugh…I found a company who has mastered marketing integration, online and in real life. The company is Ganz, and their product/website is Webkinz. I discovered this when I finally realized what my 11 yo daughter was involved in as she was typing in codes from her recently purchased (RL) webkinz clothing.

The way this works is that you purchase a Webkinz stuffed animal at a retailer. There is a tag on it with a code. You then go to the website, and can go in-world using your code. Once there you can get a virtual pet like the RL one you purchased. Then you can purchase items to enhance the appearance of your pet, and also decorate the room which you have selected for your pet to live in. Now, my daughter had purchased clothing…which, with the special code, allowed her to shop in the exclusive store in-world that only those who have made the RL purchase can shop in. Everyone will recognize her clothing as special.

The other aspect that makes this all so genius is that it is a social networking site. My daughter meets her friends in-world and they compare their rooms, and clothing. They can visit each other’s places. Also, they can meet new people in-world and become friends with them. By interacting, they can each see what others have done in room decoration and clothing. This encourages them to purchase more and different items.

Now here is another capture device: the kids can play games to earn points that they can use to purchase in-world items. So now they are deeply involved in the website. They are there to dress-up, decorate, socialize, and play games, which earn money, enhancing their experience with the dress-up and decorating. Amazing!

Imagine if we could do something like that for an automotive site, or home decoration site. I think all the basic principles of cross-marketing and viral marketing are present in this one company. Congratulations to them, and no, don’t be shy to look at the website, we often learn from the children…

Marketing Results Already

Wow, after the first day of having an event listed, the traffic to my store tripled. The highest traffic I had previously in a day was about 23. After the first event listing yesterday, I had 69 people to the store. The gallery had 63. I wasn’t really expecting such good results. My rental space slide viewers have made some impact, as I noticed some of the names showing up in the viewer area, then at the store or gallery. But the numbers have only increased slightly, which is good since any increase helps. But the event listing produced amazing results. So, for now I will be listing events, probably daily, until I have a Grand Opening, then I will probably go with half price sales as the main event, with a particular freebie always available.

Marketing Update

 

Ok, I know I just did my first Events posting, and, well, I’ve already made some revisions. Firstly, I can’t be offering free items every week like some stores or people will just wait for the freebie. A friend who has a jewelry store created a unique item that is the one and only freebie, and it’s always available. I may go that route. But I’m still going to list frequently, and have, in fact, listed the Gallery also.

What I plan to do now though is offer random freebies in both the store and Gallery, with the Gallery listed under Arts and Culture, and the Store under Commercial. Random reinforcement works best. So people will have to come back often to see if something different is free. I will continute this until I have a Grand Opening. Then I will sort out how to handle the weekly attraction, be it a freebie, or a sale (more likely). I think a half price sale could work, and will probably establish a spot for the weekly sale item. Here’s the latest text for the Store listing:

Kram’s Kreations is a new Home Decor Store. I will give away a Free item randomly until my Grand Opening. Come find the item with the Gold Star. It will be FREE! Check back often, you never know what will be FREE next!
And here is the text for the Gallery listing: Waves Gallery is a new Fine Art Photo Gallery opening in conjunction with Kram’s Kreations. Come get a FREE photo until the Grand Opening. I will randomly have one photo free until then. Look for the GOLD STAR. That photo will be FREE!

I have a greeter that I may place. I’m just not yet sure I want to do that. I think some people may not like being assailed when they show up with a Greeter that says their name, and sends them a Landmark before they even know it they like the place. I’ll decide on that this week.

So now I have two rental spots for my slide show viewers, have listed events, and have freebies available. My next step will be to plan a Grand Opening. I need to decide what to do, what would bring people to a home decor store and/or an Art Gallery. I don’t know if I will do them at the same time, or separately. I think the customer base is cross-over so it may work to do both. Someone who may only have come for the Art Gallery may discover the store, and become a customer. But I will at some point arrange something separate for the Gallery. I have a friend with a mixed-artist Gallery who may want to even host a “Gallery Walk”.

Meanwhile, I’m back in my workshop working on some new designs that have been floating in my head. I’ve already added one new torch to the store this week.

New Marketing Additions

Moving right along with my marketing plan, I’ve placed a suggestion box by the main sign in the main store. I’m hoping people who know how to use this will be more sophisticated shoppers, and will leave meaningful suggestions. I will also be collecting those cards for future use as advertising resources, sending out notices of sales or new items. I may start an update group so I will have a steady customer list for announcements and sales.

In addition, I decided that as an event, I want to do a grand opening. I think a Saturday will be best, but I am too busy this week, and I want to be at the grand opening as much as possible.

In the meantime, I have decided to post a weekly event. I am offering one of my items for free every week. I will post it Friday night for Saturday. The early listing will be for the European audience, and I’ll do a later listing for the US audience. Of course, my hope is that they will come for the freebie, and buy other items while they are there. The first event listing is done, so we’ll see if a free item draws people in. The listing reads: Kram’s Kreations is a new Home Decor store. Come explore and look for the item with the Gold Star. It will be FREE!

Now go to my store and get your freebie!

(find the SLURL listed under Blogroll to the right of here)

The New Campaigns

Second Life has been considered as a vehicle for retailing and product promotions. These attempts have had mixed success primarily because no one is yet certain how to do things in virtual worlds. But there is certainly a great interest in trying to use the 3D internet. Among those interested are social, health and political causes and campaigns. Some politicians have already made attempts at reaching supporters through in-world speeches and forums, as well as having campaign headquarters. The American Cancer Society had the Relay for Life in SL. Save the Children has had a presence and is experimenting with ways to get people involved in the cause, and hopefully to also make financial contributions. It seems that of all the causes, Relay for Life has been quite successful, raising over $100,000 in US dollars in SL. I remember the campaign from an in-world perspective. There were many points of contact for getting involved, and it seemed that groups both large and small were active participants, and encouraged their members to get involved and to donate.

Part of what makes these attempts appealing is that those involved in-world have a sense of being somewhere, and with other people. If you are simply messaging or even video conferencing, you are definitely sitting in your chair at home or work, and transmitting images and/or text. In SL, you are immersed in an interactive environment where you can not only review materials, but you can interact not only with other supporters, but often with the celebrities themselves. You loose the sense of I’m here they’re there, and feel like you are actually together sharing the experience.

I think the residents of SL are a somewhat skewed sample of those who are creative, and those who are a little higher on the intellectual curve. I base this on the fact that there is a learning curve to being able to function in-world, and you need to be self-motivated and creative to figure out things to do there. There is no pre-established program to follow, or rules of the game. I think these are people who may care about the world around them, which makes them perfect participants for in-world campaigns.

Some of the techniques for getting people interested and involved in these activities would be similar to those of merchandising of products. Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come. You have to let people know you are there, what you are doing and what you would like them to do. There can be event listings, classifieds, billboards, t-shirts, and simple word of mouth to spread the interest.

I think SL will be used more often for various campaigns. Other than the sense of presence and involvement there is the distinct advantage of not being geographically limiting. People from all over the world can be involved in synchronous events. It seems a perfect vehicle for political candidates, and even elected politicians to reach their constituents, and have real dialog with them. The dissemination of information for political and social campaigns can be dynamic, and multimedia with information stations available at all times.

The main stumbling block to increased utilization will be the fact that people have to create avatars, and go through at least some of the learning curve to find how to do things and get around in-world. This will not be attractive to many people. It isn’t like turning on the TV and becoming a passive observer. You have to participate at some level. Perhaps the Lindens need to develop a quick entry system with temporary avatars for those who just want to stop in maybe to just hear a speech from the President of the United States. They may have no interest in staying in-world, but want to see that event. This would greatly increase the utility of SL for special events.